#LECTURES – Les Glénans Irish Seceur's final lecture of the winter series is titled 'The Viking Ship Warriors in Ireland New Discoveries'. John Mass will present the talk about the first Viking raids and settlement in 8th and 9th century Ireland.
The talk takes place next Tuesday, 29th May starting at 20.00hrs at the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club Marina in Ringsend, Dublin Port. Tickets cost €5 in aid of the RNLI.
William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.
Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.
At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.
After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.
Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.
The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.
Ireland's Sailing and Boating Magazine
